Pancho Villa and Camp Furlong Celebration, Pancho Villa State Park, NM

We are in a historic state park of Pancho Villa fame....   The US Army Camp Furlong was stationed here on the grounds that are now known as Pancho Villa State Park, Columbus NM.

Here is a bit of history:


At approximately 4:00am on March 9, 1916, about 485 Mexican revolutionaries attacked the sleeping town of Columbus, New Mexico. Led by Mexican General Francisco “Pancho” Villa, the fighters crossed the border into the United States and took the small town and its adjacent military encampment, Camp Furlong, completely by surprise. The assault was the only ground invasion of the continental United States after the War of 1812. Ten American civilians and eight U.S. soldiers lost their lives before Villa’s troops had to retreat to Mexico.

A long period of Mexican political unrest and controversial American foreign policy fueled the historic invasion. The attack led to further contention between the United States and Mexico when President Woodrow Wilson ordered a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa without first consulting the Mexican government. General John J. Pershing gathered several thousand US troops at Camp Furlong for the undertaking. This massive expedition, though ultimately unsuccessful, would prove critical in testing tactics and equipment that were essential to US military triumphs during World 

More information can be found HERE

Yesterday was the 99th anniversary of the invasion.  Both towns on each side of the Mexican border celebrate with a parade, festivities, food, dancing, music and of course drinking...  LOL

We started off the morning with a fund-raiser breakfast at the local VFW post.  Very cheerful folks greeted us, served up a whopping good breakfast and we enjoyed the company of Seann, and also Dawn and Jim from Washington.  It was "all you can eat" and a nice break from having to make breakfast ourselves.  

At ten a.m. the parade started with a pagent of horses

leading up from south of the border, 

showing goodwill between the two countries. 

 (notice that "Pancho Villa" is carrying the US flag and

"General Pershing" is carrying the Mexican flag?)

All of the horses were clip clopping up the street from south of the Border, 

and some did an honor ride up from many miles from the south too....

These little ones must have been so proud to be part of the ceremony... and took their roles of either Mexican or American very seriously!  It was so sweet....

At the end of the parade was a very nervous spirited horse

that was a handful for his rider.

At the location of the old army fort, some of the volunteer soldiers were posing for photo ops....  and I managed to make the pics look "old timey"

The various areas of town had food vendors, live music, craft sales and some rummage sales to take part with all of the visitors to this tiny town of only 1,600 people.  These young students were getting ready to perform at the local school where a craft show was taking place.

We wandered back to our campers for the rest of the day, and we took a siesta to break up the later afternoon. I think I got a bit of Seann's head cold, so I doused up good and took a snooze.  Felt much better after waking up.

Steve built another campfire in his pellet fire pit, and we invited over Seann from Canada, and Jim & Dawn from Washington.  They brought over Ari , their big dog who ADORED Seann's pocket full of doggie treats!   She did tricks to earn up each piece in the rest of the bag.....

I made a treat of our own for the "humans" around the campfire. 

 It's called Chewy S'mores Bars....

1. lay graham crackers on a cookie sheet (I used the cinnamon ones and lay them face down)
2. sprinkle with chocolate chips, and then mini-marshmallows (about half a bag each)

3. melt 1/2 stick of butter and about a cup of brown sugar on the stove, stirring till well mixed
4. drizzle over the pan, bake at 350 about 8-10 minutes till marshmallows are golden brown.

 Cool a bit, cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy! 

We sat up late enjoying our campfire.  The others toddled off to bed, but we sat our enjoying the stars and the quiet.  For a rowdy festival weekend, the town sure quieted down after 9 p.m.  Only an occasional car went past out on the highway, and the campground was silent.   Ahhhhhh

This morning, Seann made us breakfast! Whooo hooo two mornings in a row that I didn't have to cook!!!

Complete with Canadian Maple Syrup~

Thanks, Seann!!!